… The study, Digital Footprints: Online Identity Management and Search in the Age of Transparency, also discovered that fully 60 per cent of Internet users surveyed said they are not worried about how much information is available about them online. Similarly, the majority of online adults (61 per cent) do not feel compelled to limit the amount of information that can be found about them online. Just 38 per cent said they have taken steps to limit information available about them.

Caution is required, however. And action is a viable option. “You have to be careful what is being said. There is recourse,” noted Giles Crouch, chief executive officer of MediaBadger, a social media research and consulting firm in Halifax.

Indeed, said Fraser, “you have at least a measure of control. If it’s defamation, you can take legal action.”

That action was apparent in Nova Scotia in a recent court case that highlighted the extent to which individuals — and the courts — will go to protect their reputation. In Mosher v. Coast Publishing Ltd., 2010 NSSC 153, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia determined that information about individuals who posted online comments following a story in The Coast newspaper alleging racism in the Halifax Regional Municipality fire department and, in particular, against two senior officials, should be provided.